Chapter 3 - Non-human animals
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
Summary
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.
Isaiah 11:6–9INTRODUCTION
Peter Singer is perhaps best known for championing the moral status and ethical treatment of non-human animals. Indeed, he might be the person most responsible for bringing such issues to the Western world's attention. Of Singer's contribution, the Christian philosopher Robert Wennberg says:
In 1975, with the publication of Peter Singer's Animal Liberation, the cause of animal advocacy took a dramatic turn, as the book, in conjunction with forces already at work, served to radically change the entire arena of moral concern for animals. Here we have the beginnings of the animal rights or animal liberation movement as a pervasive presence on the contemporary scene. Indeed, things have not been the same since.
As it has gone through its multiple editions, Animal Liberation has generally become accepted as the seminal work in the field. And Singer has gone on to write even more in recent years on this topic with The Way We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter and In Defense of Animals. That one person could have this kind of impact on how we think about other animals is simply extraordinary.
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- Peter Singer and Christian EthicsBeyond Polarization, pp. 83 - 136Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2012
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